Sunday, August 19, 2012

Not All "Healthier" Ice Cream Is On My Recommend List (Product Review)

One thing I miss terribly from my "eat whatever I feel like whenever I feel like it" days is McDonald's chocolate shakes.  Oh, how I love them.  I have to admit, on the rare occasion that I get my kids each a small chocolate shake from McD's, I have to take a little taste.  Just a small one.  And then I'm satisfied.  I can taste it and go on with my day.  Not like before when I'd down a medium shake in like 10 minutes.  Do you know how many calories and carbs are in a McDonald's chocolate shake, btw?  A 16oz cup is an enormous 710 calories, 21g fat, 13g saturated fat, and OMG 115g carbs!!!

But a McDonald's shake is not what I'm here to talk about today.  I had an emergency where I needed a chocolate shake.  Trying to be good, I went for a healthier alternative.  I found Skinny Cow "Slimited Editions" (cute, huh?) Double Chocolate Crumble Shake-Stirs.  Doesn't the name of it sound simply divine?  Yes, I thought so too.  Here's what it looks like:
I was really leery about buying it at first, because it's really not very big (8.1 oz) and packs in at 230 calories (and then add the milk that you put in it on top of that), and it has 40g carbs (not including the milk).  But, I tell you, it was an emergency!!! :)  When you open it up it's just frozen ice cream with cookie crumbles in it with a well down the center.
Then what you do is add 1/3 Cup milk and let it sit for a minute.
Then after a minute or two you stir it up and it's more like soft serve ice cream than it is a shake.  And it's very messy.  When I stirred it I couldn't easily get to the bottom without all the ice cream on top spilling over the sides.
Here's the nutritional information for one of these Shake-Stirs:  230 calories, 2.5g fat, 1.5g saturated fat, 40g carbs, 6g fiber, 7g protein.  So, all in all it is a WAY better option than a McDonald's milkshake.  But I have to say, I thought the taste was a little flat and bland.  By the name "Double Chocolate Crumble", I expected TONS of chocolatey wonderfulness.  It tasted good, but not great.  I was left feeling cheated out of a big 230 calories from my daily calorie budget.

The better option is definitely the Skinny Cow Chocolate Fudge Brownie single serve ice cream cup that I reviewed a few posts ago.  You can read that here.  The chocolate flavor is much better, and even though it's a smaller serving, it has way less calories (150) and it actually lasts longer than the bigger Shake-Stir.  I think that's because it takes longer to savor it and let it melt in your mouth since it's frozen, rather than the soft-serve of the Shake-Stir that melts easily and gets swallowed quickly.

Yes, it tasted good, but not good enough to warrant "spending" 263 of my daily calories on it (230+33 for my 1% 1/3 cup milk that got added in).

btw, talking about the Skinny Cow single serve ice cream cups, I tried the Strawberry Cheesecake, and it was marvelous!  So rich and creamy.  I wish I had one of those again instead of the Shake-Stir.

Eat Wisely,

Lisa
happyfairylove@live.com








2 comments:

  1. So glad you are our 'taste tester', Lisa!! I've had Skinny Cow before and their ice cream sandwiches are good! Better choice!

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  2. i'm happy to be the taste tester and also use my family as guinea pigs! lol as long as you find my reviews helpful, then i guess i'm doing something right. :) i haven't tried the ice cream sandwiches yet. i'll check them out when i go grocery shopping later.

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